Movie Review: Anonymous

A little late to the party, and on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up Anonymous at the local video rental place. Wow. It certainly was something.

It's about William Shakespeare, and the fact that he may have not written the plays for which he is famed. The film opens with a nice prologue by Derek Jacobi, and my heart lifted. I felt  optimistic for this movie.

The film, taking place in the Elizabethan era, really has some weirdness going on. There are a lot of flashbacks, but that brings us to problem number one. You can't actually tell when they are having a flashback. All of a sudden, it's just 40 years ago, or maybe it's 5 years ago. The flashbacks aren't chronological either. They are all over the map. I did like, however, that in the flashbacks, Queen Elizabeth is played by Joely Richardson, and in the 'present' time, she's played by Vanessa Redgrave. That was an excellent casting decision. Oh...and some really weird incest scenes, and how Queen Elizabeth was really sleeping with everyone. Yeah...

Richardson in Anonymous

They never really explain who all the characters are, which makes it very tough, because you have to pay a lot of attention. There was also some issues with sound mixing, where the dialogue was very quiet. This just made the movie experience not so great. That, coupled with the jerky flashbacks really ruined it for me.

In pros, the costumes were superb, and detailed, and exactly what I would have expected. The scenery was vivid and detailed, really making England seem like a squalid hell-hole, but in a good way.

To be honest, I don't really have much to say. I know that there is this great authorship scandal about whether Shakespeare really did all of his writing. I am all for giving credit where credit is due, but personally, this cause does not move me. In the end, high school students everywhere will hate whatever name is on the cover of the play, whether it was Shakespeare or not.

I'm going to give this move 4/10. It was pretty not good. But it was pretty to watch. And the incest/paternity scandal/illegitimate children made it sound like a crazy 1500's version of Maury.